As the quickest bowler to reach 300 Test wickets, Kagiso Rabada is a good authority on what makes a good bowling attack, and he believes that his Proteas are indeed the best in Test cricket.
Rabada became the quickest to reach the milestone in terms of number of deliveries bowled.
It’s a big claim to make, but Rabada backed up that assertion in the first Test against hosts Bangladesh in Mirpur on Monday.
After choosing to bat first, Bangladesh were bundled out for 106 in the first innings. While Rabada was the only fast bowler picked for the match which looked like it would favour the slow bowlers, he shone in the first session and set the tone.
Reaping the rewards
While he was not among the early wickets as allrounder Wiaan Mulder (3/22) produced some good lateral movement with the ball, Rabada reaped the rewards later in the brief Bangladesh innings to return figures of 3/26.
In fact, the only other pace bowler picked for the series is Nandre Burger and he was not selected for the first Test.
It lends credence to Rabada’s proclamation about the quality of the Proteas attack.
"South Africa right now, we have really good fast bowlers. It's so good to see. If you look all over the world, I think we have the best fast bowlers,” Rabada told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview.
“If you look at our fast bowlers, any of them can make the first-string team. What it does, is it causes good competition. It also causes replacement. If anyone gets injured, then someone else can just come in.”
Though it’s almost three months since Rabada played for South Africa in the T20 World Cup final against India, that defeat still hurt. South Africa went on to lose by seven runs, and it was a difficult one to get over revealed Rabada.
"Oh.. we should have won it. It was so painful. It was really painful," said Rabada.
"You know what, it took me a while to get over that final, it was that painful. I mean, I was in the United States at the time and playing in the Major League Cricket... at the moment I feel like I have to move on.”
"I dealt with it over time. It's just about letting go and being comfortable with the reality. The only way to be comfortable with it is to think about what transpired. If it didn't hurt, then, I would have hung my boots up, but it hurt a lot. I won't lie, it hurt a lot."